


The riddle of us

by jspringsteen



Category: Thor (Movies)
Genre: Asgard, Childhood Memories, Kid Loki and Kid Thor (Marvel), M/M, Thunderstorms
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-29
Updated: 2017-10-29
Packaged: 2019-01-26 01:29:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12545788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jspringsteen/pseuds/jspringsteen
Summary: Loki is scared of thunder. Thor makes it go away.





	The riddle of us

**Author's Note:**

> This is for that amazing shit-eating grin Loki wore in Thor Ragnarok in that one scene towards the end. You know the one.
> 
> Title from the poem "Wulf and Eadwacer" from the Exeter Book, an Anglo-Saxon codice: "That may easily be separated which was never bound, / the riddle of us two together."
> 
> Comments make my day! Come say hi on tumblr @red-hot-moon if you enjoyed!

When he lay in the middle of the bed, it almost felt like drowning. Loki had no fear of water, but he did have a fear of suffocating. That could happen in the water as well as in a bed, he thought. He had amassed so many pillows around himself that he was afraid he might slip down between them and –

And what? Fall through a gap? Feel the breath being squeezed out of his body? Be molded and kneaded down until he was a tiny, tiny version of himself?

Outside the thunder rolled and boomed like a heavy barrel across the dining hall floor. He’d drawn the dark green curtains shut, but from behind them flashes of lightning still flickered into his room. His fear of suffocating was matched only by his fear of thunder, and his pillows were supposed to drown out the sound. Not that they were very good at it.

He shook his head and cocooned himself deeper underneath the sheets that were smooth and supple like water, yet still heavy enough to send him off to sleep with their comforting weight on quiet nights. He knew he needn’t worry about anything: after all, he had copied the pillows himself from the three that were already on his bed, and he had felt that tingling feeling in his fingers when he had thought, as he was doing it, _Stay put, cushions. Do not suffocate me. Keep me afloat._ And that was what they did. Of late, more and more things had shown themselves ready to ply to his will. Loki had noticed this with the matter-of-factness of a child who goes into a garden and finds that he has power over every plant, every insect, everything that is smaller than him.

Thunderstorms weren’t very common in Asgard – in fact, this was the heaviest one Loki had ever seen. The weather was mostly subject to the whim of the gods, and it was Odin’s doing that they mostly enjoyed bountiful sunshine and only brief showers when the flowers showed signs of wilting. To control the weather, Loki thought, would be to feel incredible power. He flexed his fingers.

Just then, the door of his bedroom opened to a crack and a small figure stood there. Loki glanced up. The little figure came running towards him and leapt onto his bed. It was Thor.

“Loki,” he whispered. “Are you awake? Are you scared?”

“No,” said Loki, but it came out as a whimper and he cursed himself for it.

“You’re scared, brother,” said Thor, and it was a good thing Loki couldn’t see his face because it sounded like he was grinning. He threw a punch vaguely in Thor’s direction.

“Hey Loki. Guess what I can do.” Thor threw himself off the bed and padded over to the window. Loki peeked out from under his blankets to see Thor throwing the curtains open. A skeletal fork of lightning cleaved the night sky, followed almost immediately by a deafening thunderclap.

Loki sat up. He peered intently at Thor. His brother was holding his hands clenched at his side and Loki thought he saw blue sparks dance around his knuckles. He rubbed his eyes, and looked carefully at Thor. His stance was rigid, but his eyes, which were following the flashes of lightning across the heavens, were wide open with delight. His lips were parted, slightly.

“What are you doing?” Loki asked, and when Thor didn’t reply, he stepped out of bed and came over to Thor, hugging a pillow to his chest for good measure. Thor lifted one hand and studied it, as if he’d never seen it before. Again a crackle of bright blue electricity passed from his fingertips towards his wrist. Loki’s eyes widened.

“What are you doing?”

Thor turned to face him. “I was looking out at the thunderstorm from my bedroom earlier,” he replied. “I think the lightning… got into me.”

“Got into you? How?”

“I don’t know! I suddenly felt… it came out of my fingers. And then, I could tell when it was going to strike next. And where! And look…” He spread his ten fingers wide; Loki could hear a faint buzz emanating from them. Just then, a massive fork of lightning lit up the entire sky and struck down just in front of them, chipping off a piece of the window sill. The brothers screamed and clung to each other.

“No!” Thor shouted, and pointed angrily at the sky. There was a faint flicker, and then, for the first time that night, the sky was still again. The rain slowed to a drizzle and the clouds, seemingly baffled by the sudden quiet, began drifting apart again. Peering through the raindrops that meandered down the window pane, Loki could see the comforting patch of stars poking through the cloud cover. He dropped his pillow and spread his hands on the glass.

Then, Thor, biting his lip in concentration, closed his left fist. A faint rumble started up in the distance and grew louder, barreling towards them. The clouds coagulated again, rapidly, and were shot through with veins of blue light. Holding up his right hand, Thor slowly unclenched his fingers, and Loki watched with rapt attention, his eyes shooting back and forth between his brother’s hand on the windowpane and the lightning that now seemed to flower, almost in slow motion, across the sky, fracturing the darkness with a soft crackle like frost creeping higher on a window. Thor slowly made a waving motion and the tendrils of lightning began creeping downwards, towards the ground, where they struck a house here, a tower there, and somewhere in the distance an entire lake which lit up bright silver for a brief moment. Then Thor dropped his hand, and darkness returned. The thunder died away, and the clouds slowly, almost reluctantly parted to let in the starlight again. Thor’s fingers dangled limply by his side. The air seemed to thrum with echoes of the storm.

“See? I made it stop.” He put his arm around Loki’s shoulders and guided him back to bed.

“How did you do that, Thor?” _And why couldn’t I do it?_ added the insidious little voice in his head. He gave a half-hearted kick against the pillow on the floor.

“I told you. The lightning listens to me,” Thor said, his face and tone deadly serious. Loki looked up into his eyes. Was he imagining it, or was there still a sheen of bright blue that overlay them? “You can rest easy now.” The tone he affected was casual, but even in the half-light Loki could see how he rolled back his shoulders and angled up his chin.

A cold rush of air raised the hairs on his arms as he wriggled underneath the covers. “Thanks, brother,” he said. He pushed the multitude of pillows away, feeling vaguely embarrassed.

“Goodnight, then,” said Thor, bending over his little brother to kiss his cheek.

“G’night,” Loki murmured, faking a yawn. He watched his brother as he pulled the door closed behind him, then lay down on his side. He thought of the lake: the snakes, the birds and the fish living in and under the water, witnesses, for a brief moment, to the dazzling brilliance of Thor’s newfound powers, only to be killed by them next moment, without protest, without knowing why.


End file.
